Parliamentary questions
Nicola Sturgeon
676 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial rewards it will provide to nurses who are willing to take on wider roles as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys; what incentives it will provide to doctors to focus on where their sk…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Record sums are being invested in the NHS by the Scottish Executive so that we can revitalise services for patients everywhere. As part of our action on workforce development we are encouraging innovative multi-professional teamworking, and seeking to reward …
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to fund to improve the recruitment and retention of NHS frontline staff as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys; how much these measures are likely to cost, and by how much …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Record sums are being invested in the NHS by the Scottish Executive so that we can revitalise services for patients everywhere. As part of our action on workforce development we are encouraging innovative multi-professional teamworking. We are working at loca…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the #36 million it plans to allocate to the modernisation and improvement of general practitioner and dental facilities as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys will be distributed in …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The detailed deployment of the resources identified for the modernisation and improvement of general practitioner and dental facilities has yet to be determined.
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it will provide to ensure that the roll-out of NHS 24 across the country, as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys, does not cause any shortages within the NHS nursing workforce.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The detailed allocations of the health budget, including NHS 24's, will be published in the draft budget document towards the end of October. NHS 24's funding will facilitate the national rollout of this new NHS service over the next two years. NHS 24 is work…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it estimates that each community place for people leaving hospital will cost #20,000, given that it will provide #20 million each year to 2005-06 to provide 1,000 such community places as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Prop…
Answer · Frank McAveety: This investment will enable 1,000 additional people to move from hospital into more appropriate community-based settings at varying costs. It will also allow local authority and NHS board partnerships to put in place a variety of other measures to tackle dela…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what future incentives it intends to provide to the NHS workforce in order to meet its commitment in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys to train 10,000 nurses and midwives and increase the total number of N…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Record sums are being invested in the NHS by the Scottish Executive so that we can revitalise services for patients everywhere. As part of our detailed plans for workforce development, we are working at local, regional and national levels to provide attractiv…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a hospital case can be treated other than as in-patient, day case or out-patient.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The terms in-patient, day case and out-patient denote the type and level of resource used to treat a patient during a particular contact with hospital services. These terms are formally defined by ISD Scotland in its Definitions and Codes manual, which can be…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest technologies available for the treatment of mental illness are and how much it plans to invest in these technologies in each year to 2005-06.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Technology Board for Scotland provides timely advice on the clinical and cost effectiveness of the broad range of existing and new health technologies to NHSScotland, including most recently for mental health on:<P>the prescription of anti-cholines…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest technologies available for the treatment of cancer are and how much it plans to invest in these technologies in each year to 2005-06.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: At any time there are a variety of potentially new technologies for the treatment of cancer being researched or undergoing clinical trials throughout the world. These may include novel gene therapy, new equipment or more sophisticated forms of existing equipm…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest technologies available for the treatment of strokes are and how much it plans to invest in these technologies in each year to 2005-06.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Stroke medicine is a continuously advancing field. Our Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke Strategy, which we will publish shortly, will set out arrangements designed to make sure that people in Scotland who have had a stroke can benefit at as early a stage as …
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest technologies available for the treatment of coronary heart disease (CHD) are and how much it plans to invest in these technologies in each year to 2005-06.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The treatment of coronary heart disease is a continuously advancing field. Our CHD and Stroke Strategy, which we will publish shortly, will set out arrangements designed to make sure that people in Scotland who suffer from CHD can benefit at as early a stage …
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that those who currently have unmet need for free personal care are identified and receive the services they need.
Answer · Frank McAveety: The Spending Review 2002 settlement reflects the Care Development Group's costing assumptions for free personal care. These assumptions estimated an increase in demand from unmet need and a shift from informal to formal care of approximately 12% building up o…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will increase the amount of funding allocated to free personal care in the light of the prediction in the General Registrar for Scotland Annual Report 2000 that by 2006 the population aged over 65 will have increased by 30,000 since 1998.
Answer · Frank McAveety: The Care Development Group acknowledged that the cost of the policy would be affected by changes in demography and specific account has been taken of this in allocating resources.
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it gave to increased demand on NHS services and constraints on the time of NHS staff and on the availability of space within NHS out-patient departments in reaching its target that no patient should wait longer than six months for a new out-patient appointment by 2006 …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: In setting the new national maximum waiting time target of six months for a first out-patient appointment, we have taken account of record levels of investment in the NHS which will enable more resources to be deployed to meet growth in demand, for example by…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the money allocated to health announced by the Minister for Finance and Public Services on 12 September 2002 will be allocated to other portfolios under health improvement initiatives.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: <I>Building a Better Scotland</I> indicated additional resources of £23, 50 and 100 million towards health improvement initiatives. £18, 44 and 61 million of this has been allocated to portfolios other than health but for clarity has not been included in the …
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what building and information technology (IT) projects currently under development are likely to benefit from the investment of at least #750 million referred to in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys; whic…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Following the changes introduced to the Capital Planning and Approval processes in April this year, it is anticipated that the majority of the £750 million will be allocated directly to NHS boards to undertake those improvements already under way or planned a…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to provide new drugs where clinically appropriate as stated in the health and community care section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Substantial additional resources are being made available to the NHS in Scotland over the years of the spending review as announced on 12 September 2002, with an average annual increase of 8.7% over the years 2003-04 to 2005-06 rising to £8.6 billion a year b…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has contributed financially to adopting medical advances since 1999-2000; whether it will give examples of instances where any such advances were most beneficial to the extent that they are now used or have been put in place by every NHS board, and how much funding it will all…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The national clinical effectiveness organisations, for example the Health Technology Board Scotland, the Scottish Inter-Collegiate Guidelines Network and the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, are funded to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of …
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been carried out or commissioned to compare Scotland's health provision with European levels over the next three years and whether it will publish any such research.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive do not currently have plans to commission research of this nature. A study to compare health care systems in the United Kingdom with seven other countries (mostly European) was commissioned by HM Treasury and published in April 2002. Th…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the increased health budget to 2005-06 announced by the Minister for Finance and Public Services on 12 September 2002 will be (a) given to NHS institutions and (b) provided for initiatives outwith NHS institutions such as increasing physical activity, or reducing food-b…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Detailed decisions have not yet been made on the distribution of the health budget announced on 12 September.
16 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what considerations it has given to any pressure on the nursing workforce as a result of (a) the establishment of nurse-led clinics, (b) increasing the responsibilities of nurses to enable them to write prescriptions, (c) any specialisation within the nursing profession and (d) proposals …
Answer · Mary Mulligan: We are taking positive steps on a number of fronts to increase capacity, enhance career development opportunities and retain the current nursing workforce.<I><P>Facing the Future, the Report of the National Convention on Recruitment and Retention in Nursing a…
16 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency has any plans to compile key health indicators both nationally and broken down by NHS board area, using the same criteria as for the information on health compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation a…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency do not currently have plans to compile key health indicators, using the same criteria as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
16 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether information is held centrally on the number of patients treated in nurse-led out-patient clinics (a) in each NHS board area and (b) across Scotland as a whole in each of the last five years and what the reasons are for the position on the matter.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Earlier this year, ISD Scotland, in collaboration with Audit Scotland, carried out a week-long audit of non-in-patient clinics held in Scotland. Preliminary results from parts of the survey on nurse-led clinics are available at:<P><A HREF="http://www.show.sco…
11 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances NHS 24 would breach its website claim of confidentiality for callers.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS 24 is a confidential service for the public. The confidentiality extends to the standard NHS interpretation of "confidentiality" and all clinical and other patient information is bound by standard NHS confidentiality regulations. All patients are asked, i…
11 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how NHS 24 satisfied the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland that the algorithms it is employing meet approved clinical standards.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The algorithms, or series of logically structured questions, were initially developed by an American clinical software company. During 2001, NHS 24 involved Scottish clinicians in an extensive programme of structured review and adaptation of the algorithms, k…
11 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the algorithms being used by NHS 24 to determine advice dispensed in response to patient enquiries are published and, if so, where a copy can be obtained.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The algorithms are a copyrighted product used under licence by NHS 24 and are not widely available. NHS 24 involved Scottish clinicians in an extensive programme of structured review and adaptation of the algorithms in 2001. NHS 24 also arranges for clinician…
5 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give details of any trials of the breast cancer drug Anastro'ole currently taking place in Scotland.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: We are aware of three trials involving the drug Arimidex (anastrozole) and Scottish patients. There may be other smaller studies involving this drug, but this information is not available centrally.<P>Preliminary results from the largest trial, the ATAC trial…
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS board or trust or agency each nurse currently employed by the NHS 24 pilot programme in Grampian worked for in their most recent job prior to employment with the pilot programme.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested by the member is currently being collated by NHS 24 and I am awaiting a response. Once complete, I will write to the member with a full response and place a copy in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what extra funding or resources it provided to (a) the Scottish Ambulance Service in the Grampian region, (b) accident and emergency departments of Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust and (c) the nursing workforce employed by the NHS when it decided to pilot NHS 24 in the Grampian reg…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: NHS 24 is not being piloted in the Grampian region; Grampian is the first part of Scotland to benefit from the national rollout of this new NHS service. NHS 24 was designed and developed with the support of staff from the Scottish Ambulance Service and accide…
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many wards in NHS hospitals have been closed at some time during the last 12 months due to outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information requested is not held centrally.